The P&G soaps are renewed on a yearly basis, so an 18 month renewal, while it looks bad, is really on par with the P&G renewals.

I suspect the budget was slashed greatly for DAYS though. Though the article doesn't know much about the financial stipulations, they did mention that some shuffling would be done. I expect more actors to be let go and limited use of some sets.

I'm guessing that the entire show will be done from the Brady Pub now.